Mott Children's history

C.S. Mott talking to student Jack Grenier at an after-school shop class at Longfellow Junior High School, 1940. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives)

Charles McKhann was recruited to Michigan in 1941, after the death of Doctor Cowie that same year.

Ruth Mott with her children, Stewart, Maryanne, and Susan, 1942. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives.)

While Doctor McKhann began that effort he remained as Chairman for only three years, and in 1944 he was succeeded by Doctor Wilson.

C.S. and Ruth with all of C.S.’s children, 1948.

U-M opened its Women's Hospital in 1950.

The nation’s third polio respirator center, funded by the March of Dimes, opened at University of Michigan in 1951.

C.S. Mott nailing sheathing on a house that had been almost destroyed in the 1953 Beecher tornado that tore through Flint. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives)

C.S. Mott receives the Big Brother of the Year Award from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1955. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives.)

Doctor Wilson recruited Doctor Richard Allen as the first pediatric neurologist in the Department (and in Michigan) in 1957.

C.S. and Harding Mott in downtown Flint, 1960. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives)

As an example, the first board certified subspecialization in pediatrics was in cardiology beginning in 1961.

A major focus of this foundation was to improve children’s health; the Mott Foundation donated over $6.5 million to the University of Michigan for the construction of the children’s hospital in 1964.

1965: U-M receives a $6.5 million donation from philanthropist Charles Stewart Mott to build its first children’s hospital.

Doctor Robert Kelsch was appointed to the faculty in 1966, and was considered a pioneer in the development of the subspecialty of pediatric nephrology.

With the retirement of Doctor Wilson in 1967, Doctor William J. Oliver was appointed Chairman of the Department.

1969: The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital opens.

When the American Board of Medical Subspecialists approved pediatric nephrology as a subspecialty in the early 1970’s, he was among the first cohort of successful examinees for certification, and went on to lead the development of this program.

The Holden Fund established biochemical laboratories within the new Mott Holden Unit, creating the James and Lynelle Holden Perinatal Research Laboratories, which were completed in 1972.

The Flint Board of Education presenting Ruth with a tribute to C.S. Mott after his death, 1974. (Ruth Mott Foundation Archives.)

Doctor Oliver stepped down from the chairmanship in 1979.

In 1981, Doctor Robert P. Kelch was appointed Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases.

Again, the C.S. Mott Foundation supported components of these capital renovations with a $2 million grant to the University in 1984.

The Maternal Child Health Center opened in 1990, expanding U-M?s children?s and women?s services.

In 1991, a 91 million dollar wing to Mott Hospital was opened, expanding the cardiology division on the first level (basement) and enlarging the radiology and anesthesiology group on the third level.

In 1993, Doctor Kelch was recruited to be Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa.

Doctor Robillard successfully secured two medical school endowed chairs in support of Doctor’s Hildebrandt and Hershenson’s recruitments that had been provided by the estate of Frederick G.L. Huetwell to the University (1995).

In 1996, Doctor Jean Robillard (Pediatric Nephrology) Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa was recruited to be the chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at Michigan.

Ruth Rawlings Mott, 1998

In 2003, Doctor Robillard returned to the University of Iowa as Dean of the Medical School.

May 2004: U-M announces plans to build facility that will house both the Mott and Women's hospitals.

April 2005: U-M officials ask the Board of Regents to approve a new C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Hospital building.

2006: Construction on the new hospital building begins.

Construction on the new C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital in 2007.

June 2011: Doug Strong, the chief executive officer of U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, tells the Board of Regents that start up cost for the new facility will reach approximately $70 million during its first year of operation.

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By 2014 the Department of Pediatrics had become the second largest and one of significant prominence within the Medical School and University of Michigan Health System.